Just a Little Conversation
by Ryuuen Kurai
Summary: It's been three months since the "incident" and Nene hasn't gotten over Mackey yet... Find out what happens...


STANDARD DISCLAIMER:  
  
Bubble Gum Crisis Tokyo 2040 does not belong to me. I wouldn't be writing fanfiction if I did own the series now, would I?  
  
AUTHOR'S NOTES:  
  
Ohayo, minna-san! I didn't think I'd actually get down to writing a fanfic for this particular series. I really don't know what made me write this story and actually post it up in the first place even if one of the pairings is quite unusual.  
  
Anou… about this fic… It's basically one-shot and will remain to be just that unless there would be a clamor for it to evolve into a series. (I wish!) The story takes place three months after the BGC timeline and Mega Tokyo is slowly reconstructing. This fic shall be featuring a Leon-Priss and Daley-Nene pairing… told you one of the pairings was unusual… How's that for an alternate pairing fic?  
  
  
  
  
  
JUST A LITTLE CONVERSATION  
  
By: Ryuuen  
  
  
  
  
  
The rain was pouring mercilessly outside, drenching everyone and everything in sight. Looking through the window of our office, I stifled a yawn and sighed. Of all the times inclemency could have hit, it just had to come tonight. Averting my gaze from the shiny droplets of water lining the windowpane, I drew my attention back to my computer and focused on the tasks at hand.  
  
"Damn, how I hate paperwork!" I muttered under my breath to no one in particular. I was seated in my cubicle at the Intelligence section of the Mega Tokyo Police Department building poring over the information I was supposed to retrieve that night.  
  
" Who doesn't?" an extremely familiar voice mutters in reply.  
  
"Oh, it's you, Leon-peon. What do you want?" I asked in a bored tone. Had it been any other time in any other place and in any other circumstance, I would have launched into merciless taunting towards my superior, albeit less intellectually gifted, surrogate oniisan. If only it weren't for these stupid assignments, I would have been in the mood to do just that! It wasn't usually like this way back during my days with the AD Police. How I miss the challenging assignments I was given back then – hacking into military databases, retrieving classified information, bugging different computers… But that was just it. The AD Police was no more…  
  
It had been three months since the incident (Author: I shall personally strangle anyone who does not know which event I am alluding to in this part…) and a lot of things had changed. Mega Tokyo was no longer run by Genom Corporation but by the Stingray Group of companies. The AD Police was dispersed, it's employees relegated into the Mega Tokyo Police Department. The Knight Sabers, though not disbanded, have gone on their separate ways. Linna had gone home to their province and, based from her letters, the announcement of her engagement with Yamazaki-san was just beyond the corner. Sylia still manages her boutique, the Silky Doll, during her free time. She was quite busy now, her company having assumed the powers of the Genom Corporation and was basically running the city on her own. I, for my part, have found a job in the Intelligence Section of the Police Department, which was frustrating in a sense. It didn't possess the thrill and challenge of my job with the AD Police but I had to make do. Priss, on the other hand, was still Priss. She was still working as the vocalist of a local band that performed every night at the Hot Legs nightclub. She still had her motorbike and her outlandish, lone-wolfish demeanor. Yup, still the same old Priss except for…  
  
"Nothing. Just dropped by to tell you not to stay too late."  
  
"Why, Leon-chan! I didn't know you cared."  
  
"I don't. I just wouldn't like Priss storming off from our date just to fetch you."  
  
"Priss? I didn't know she cared either." That was a lie. Though Priss seldom said it, I felt as though she always treated me as her best friend and even her younger sister at times. She usually came to me for advice, trysts we kept a secret from the rest since she didn't like to ruin her reputation; so basically, I knew a lot of things about her. Well, maybe not A LOT but more than Linna and Sylia anyway and Leon was definitely one of the things we'd usually talk about.  
  
"So, you're going on another date tonight, huh, 'niisan?" I teased.  
  
Ignoring the question and trying unsuccessfully to hide a blush, Leon turned as the sound of a door being opened was heard.  
  
"Hi there."  
  
Daley? What was he doing here? He wasn't on night shift, was he? Shrugging my shoulders, I turned to Leon.  
  
"So that means Priss can't pick me up, ne?"  
  
"You got that right, Nancy Drew. And that's why Daley's here to drop you off when you're done."  
  
"Nani?" I say, looking at the person concerned. "You really shouldn't bother, Daley-san. I know you have some places to be and who am I to stop you from being there? I can manage." I let out a nervous little laugh. Somehow, Leon's silent, slightly effeminate partner always managed to make me feel quite queasy.  
  
"I know, you being with the Knight Sabers and all," he teased. "But Leon just wouldn't let me off. He seemed to be quite worried about his poor little imouto being caught miserably in the…"  
  
"Shut up!" Leon countered, as he walked off.  
  
Daley let our a derisive laugh and shouted at his partner, "Good luck, McNichol. Don't do anything I wouldn't do!"  
  
An angry slam of the door was heard and thundering footsteps in the distance echoed through the empty corridor, evidently pissed.  
  
"Bravo, Daley-san. I think you got to him," I applauded. You'd have to hand it to this guy to torment Leon just as effectively as I do.  
  
"Don't I always?" he said, walking off to the coffee table. "Coffee?"  
  
"No thanks," I respond, getting back to my work.  
  
Moments later, he approaches me and surveys my work. "You're pretty good at this, you know, Romanova."  
  
"Thanks," I say, wondering why the hell I was blushing like a schoolgirl which I should have been but wasn't. I dropped out in my second year of high school for blowing up our biology lab and I got so pissed off with teachers who pretended to know everything that I decided not to finish high school, much to my parents' disappointment… Not that I needed any other education…  
  
"Want some help?" he asked, pulling a chair from a nearby cubicle and sitting down beside me.  
  
"Umm, yeah sure. Thanks," I stammered. This was really getting way too uncomfortable.  
  
I have always regarded Detective Daley Wong as an ally against Leon-chan but other than that, our relationship was purely professional. I doubt that we ever had just even one conversation that didn't involve work at all. Sure he was really a lot of help in retrieving information during the "incident", one of the few times that I got to work with him but… We were not that intimate but surprisingly, he knew a lot of things about me. He was good, exceptionally brilliant, a thinker. I think he's the only one in the entire Police Department who can actually outsmart me. I was in awe of him; I have come to accept that, whether in admiration or apprehension, I haven't quite decided yet.  
  
We worked in silence for quite some time, the rain pattering against the windowpane being the only sound that filled the room. Once in a while, I would take furtive sidelong glances at him as he diligently sorted through my printouts, wondering what exactly he was thinking. Clicking the OK button, I stretch in my seat and yawn, "There! All done."  
  
He rips off the printout and inserts it in one of the folders and gives me a smile. "Impressive, Romanova. Really impressive, though I think I would have been able to do it in half that time."  
  
Raising my brow in irritation, I tried hard not o strangle this guy. Sure, he was intelligent but did he need to flaunt it? He sure had a big head, for more reasons than one.  
  
"Well, we should be going now, ne?" he said, standing up and imitating my gestures.  
  
"Hai, Daley-san. I'd just have to pick some things up from my locker before we go," I answer, starting to clear up my desk.  
  
"Like Uprio-chan?" he teased.  
  
Uprio-chan was my stuffed weasel, which I had since my childhood. I usually kept him at my desk but since the inspector came for a visit today, I had to whisk him away to the confines of my locker as ordered.  
  
"Yup, and some other things…" I said, walking past him and through the door. "You may wait for me downstairs if you wish."  
  
"Nah, I think I'd better accompany you. Don't want you getting lost now, do we?"  
  
I stuck my tongue out at him and run off ahead into the locker room.  
  
I open the door to my locker and take out a few things. As I fished out a book that Linna gave me once, a piece of paper fluttered to the ground. I was about to pick it up only to find that it was no longer where it had fallen but in the hands of no other than Daley himself.  
  
"Hmmm… interesting," he muttered as he gazed at the paper, which I realized was a picture, and then at me, an evil glint playing at the corners of his eyes.  
  
I watch him silently. What picture did he have? Was it Priss in the dress Sylia forced her to wear after she lost their bet? Oh my gosh, Priss's gonna kill me! Or was it the picture I took of the girls as a prank in the changing room? Now I'm really dead meat! Or maybe… I paled at the sudden realization.  
  
"My, my, Romanova. You never told us you had a boyfriend," he teased. Daley sure was in a very annoying mood tonight.  
  
"Shut up, Wong! That's none of your business! And what the hell are you doing in a girls' locker room?" I practically scream at him, indignated at the situation, while trying to pry the picture from him.  
  
He held the picture above my reach and smirked, obviously amused at my childish display.  
  
"Come on, Daley. Give it back, puhlease…" I say, trying my puppy eyes on him. However, though my gaze would have made Priss fall upon her knees and beg me to be her master, the same could not be said for Daley.  
  
"Hey, you make a pretty cute couple, you know that?" he said, trying further to keep the picture from my grasp.  
  
"Baka!" I blush at the comment and blindly lunge at him, which I then learn was a mistake. As we toppled bodily to the ground, I braced myself for the fall and was surprised when something cushioned me before we hit the ground. I open my eyes slightly to find out what it was to find that the "something" was actually someone's body.  
  
"Damn, Romanova. I didn't know you could hit THAT hard," Daley said in a strained voice from under me.  
  
Blushing more brightly than ever before, I extricate myself from him and mutter a soft, "Gomen ne."  
  
Pulling himself into a sitting position, he hands me the slightly rumpled picture and says, "Here. I didn't know you'd get mad. Gomen."  
  
I took the picture he handed me and looked away. It was the picture Linna took of Mackey and me during the recent holidays when he kissed me under the mistletoe. Those were the good times – times that have already come to pass, times that could never be brought back. Merely looking at it brought tears to my eyes, which I tried to conceal.  
  
"Anou… if you don't mind me asking, who is that guy? I have seen him somewhere before," Daley asked, averting his gaze.  
  
I keep silent, lest my voice betray the inner turmoil I was experiencing.  
  
"Or… maybe not," Daley said, a note of embarrassment in his voice.  
  
"His name's Mackey… Mackey Stingray. He's Sylia's brother, sort of… We… we were good friends..." I trail off as I lose my ability to speak, the free falling tears causing a lump to rise in my throat. It was always hard to talk about him…  
  
I draw me knees towards my body and bury my face in my arms. Baka! Did you really have to go and cry yourself silly in front of him? Mentally berating myself, I am surprised to feel strong arms pull me in a firm but reassuring embrace. I dare to look up and find intense blue orbs staring into mine.  
  
"Daley-san…"  
  
"Shh… I understand if you don't want to speak about him…" His voice, soothing, comforting… I snuggle further into his arms and am surprised to find myself opening up to him.  
  
"Mackey was Sylia's younger brother. He got involved with the Knight Sabers when Nigel accepted him as his assistant. I didn't think much about him at first, other than being Sylia's snotty, perverted imouto. But then..." I choke back a sob and Daley, sensing my predicament run his hand through my hair in gentle strokes as if to say, "Go on… I'll listen…"  
  
"He was a year younger than me so I didn't entertain my feelings for him at first. Then… then we discovered that he was… that he is…"  
  
"A product of genetic technology," Daley finished.  
  
I look up at him. "How did you know?"  
  
"I… well, I was doing a research on Genom Corporation when I stumbled upon a file of one Doctor Stingray. Driven by curiosity, I hacked through the file and found several documents on an experiment he executed using his own daughter as a specimen. I was able to read as far as how his experiment resulted in a fatal accident that caused him his life before the connection was cut."  
  
"But… how DID you know about Mackey?"  
  
"I dunno… just a guess, perhaps… According to Sylia Stingray's file, she had no siblings whatsoever so…"  
  
"But…"  
  
"But?"  
  
" Daley, do you think that just because he came into this world differently, he shouldn't be given the chance to live like normal human beings?"  
  
" I guess… why do you ask?"  
  
I lean against him again and answer in a soft voice, "Because Mackey was put to sleep after the incident with…Sylia said it was all for the best but…"  
  
"I see… you really love him, don't you?"  
  
"Uh huh…"  
  
I lay silently in his arms as outside, the rain continues its assault. Finally finding the strength to support myself, I pull away from him.  
  
"Anou… gomen." I manage to squeak. This was totally embarrassing!  
  
He smiles at me, one of those smiles that would have made my co- employees drool and stands up, offering me a hand.  
  
"It's okay, Nene. It doesn't hurt to tell others how you feel sometimes instead of letting it consume you."  
  
I look up. It was the first time he called me by my first name. Come to think of it, it was the first time that he said anything of the sort to me.  
  
"I know," I say, taking the proffered hand and standing up.  
  
In the background, someone clearing his throat was heard.  
  
"Ahem, excuse me Officer Romanova, Detective Wong. Sorry if I'm interrupting anything but this building is going to close anytime soon."  
  
I blush. It was…  
  
"Gomen nasai, Inspector Malcolm. Romanova just had to pick some things up before we leave," Daley said in his normal voice. I wonder how he is able to keep his composure in spite of the circumstances.  
  
"Okay, just hurry it up will you. No more fooling around."  
  
I blush with indignation. What the heck did he mean by "fooling around"?  
  
"Well, you heard the guy. Hurry it up, Romanova."  
  
"Daley-san… anou… why do you keep on calling me by my surname?"  
  
He looks at me, surprised. "Hmm… I don't know. Why'd you ask?"  
  
"I'm just not used to it," I say, slamming my locker shut and beginning to walk towards the elevator.  
  
"Oh…" he says, falling in stride. "Here let me help you…"  
  
I surrender my things to him with a soft arigato and press the down button of the elevator and we stepped inside. An uncomfortable silence followed.  
  
"Anou, Daley-san…"  
  
"Nani?"  
  
"Couldn't you just call me 'Nene'?"  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Well, you see…"  
  
"Okay…"  
  
"Nani?"  
  
"I'll call you by your first name if you stop calling me 'Daley-san.'"  
  
"What will I call you?"  
  
"I don't know. Plain Daley would do."  
  
"Can I also call you 'oniisan'? It matches you more than Leon-peon."  
  
"I guess…"  
  
The elevator doors slid open and we stepped into the empty reception area and though the main entrance.  
  
"So, Roma-… Nene. Where do you want me to drop you off?" he says, opening the door to the passenger seat for me before entering through the other door onto the driver's seat.  
  
"Do you know the club Priss works at? My house's three blocks from there."  
  
"Oh, I see."  
  
We drove on in silence as the rain continued to pour outside. Looking out of the window, I spot several couples out on dates and remember the time Mackey took me out to see a movie. A fond smile found its way on my lips. Those were the good times.  
  
I was distracted from my thoughts as Daley gave a low whistle. "What do we have here?"  
  
I the noticed that we suddenly came to a stop in front of a vacant lot and the reason for it made itself apparent. Leon and Priss were making out in the rain!  
  
"Wow! Now that's something I don't see everyday," I remark, dumbstruck.  
  
"I have to admit, McNichols' really something."  
  
"Anou… Daley-niisan, won't they catch flu or something with what they're doing?"  
  
"Perhaps."  
  
An evil look spreads simultaneously on both our faces.  
  
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" I ask.  
  
"I hope so… If you are, I just can't wait for tomorrow."  
  
We drive away, hoping that we weren't noticed at all.  
  
A few minutes later…  
  
"We're here," I announce as Daley rounds a curb.  
  
"Oh…"  
  
"I know, I know… it's not much but it's livable enough…"  
  
"Well…"  
  
"Won't you come inside?"  
  
"No thanks. I'm running late on an appointment with a client."  
  
I quirk my brow. "Sounds more like a blind date to me," I teased.  
  
"You could put it that way."  
  
"Anou, Daley…"  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Thank you…"  
  
I plant a light kiss on his cheek and hurriedly open my door and rush out into the rain. I don't bother looking back as I enter my house, the sound of wheels clashing against the wet pavement sounding moments after I close the door. My heart was thumping hard against my chest. That was the first friendly conversation I had with him but something tells me it meant more than a thousand words.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Okay… I'm done! Flame me for all I care. I'm ready! (shown holding fire extinguisher) 


End file.
